frost



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

f E. J. FROST.

MACHINE FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF ELECTRIC CABLES. No. 245,810. Patented Aug. 16,1881.

.- .2 z Ewe- 9888 I 3%086.

V4414, 5 L5 A i I (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

E .J.PR0ST. MACHINE FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF ELEGTRIUGABLBS.

No. 245,810. Patented Aug. 16, 1881.,

[E l m a H 0' g 1 Ell I I] i Win/asses. Even/for.

122m; JEOM v UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD J. FROST, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO WILLIAM J. PHILIPS, OF SAME PLACE.

MACHINE FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF ELECTRIC CABLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 245,810, dated August 16, 1881-.

Application filed May 23, 1881. (N0 model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD J. Fnos'r, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have in- Vented certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for the Manufacture of Electric Gables; andI do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to letters or figures of reference marked thereon, which form apart of this specification.

This invention relates to a machine for the manufacture of that class of electric cables in which the conducting-wires are spiral in form and surrounded by a non-conducting or insulating substance inclosed within afiexible tube.

The object of my invention is to produce a machine by which the wires and insulating substance are placed in a lead pipe while it is being formed and the wires given a spiral form simultaneously with their introduction into the pipe, which itself is not twisted.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a vertical section of the machine, taken on dotted line so 00 of Fig. 2, which is a top view of the machine. Fig. 3 is a detached view of the rotary mandrel.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, the letter A indicates a head-piece supported by four cornerposts,B,which stand upon a platform, 0, which is supported by the legs D, the lower ends of which may rest upon any suitable base and support the platform 0 at a proper height for any suitable cable-cooling apparatus to be arranged below it, a preferable cooling apparatus being that shownin Letters PatentNo. 244,120, granted to me on the 12th day of July, 188]. The cable may pass directly to an ordinary reel having a slip-gear wheel arranged upon its shaft and held by friction, as is the gear-wheel upon the shaft of the reel shown and described in the Letters Patent referred to, and the pipepress and the hydraulic jack are also the same as shown and described in the said Letters Patent, and therefore need no particular description here.

From the center of the lower surface of the head-piece A there projects downward a hollow plunger, H, within the bore of which is arranged a hollow mandrel, H, which projects a proper distance below said plunger, and also extends upwardly through the head-piece A, the aperture in the head-piece through which it passes forming a vertical bearing within which the mandrel rotates.

Immediately above the plunger H, and arranged in a recess in the under side of the head-piece, is a disk, H fixed concentrically upon the mandrel and having its periphery grooved, as shown at h. From this groove radial passages it lead to the bore of the man drel. Between the straight annularwall of the recess and the curved wall of the groove there is inclosed an annular chamber, and from this annular chamber passages 76 extend laterally and connect with the bores of the plungers K, which are constructed and arranged to cooperate with melting-vessels, as in the Letters Patent before referred to.

To the upper end of the mandrel H, which projects above the head-piece A, is firmly fixed the hubf of a worm wheel, F, which meshes with a worm, F, fixed upon ashaft, f, journaled in bearings upon top of the head-piece, and having its projecting end provided with a belt-wheel, from which belt-connection may be made with any suitable motor.

Upon the upper end of the hubfis secured a disk, G, having near its center apertures g, suitably arranged and at a suitable distance apart to properly guide the wires as they pass into the mandrel and the cable as the latteris being formed. From these apertures passages lead obliquely outward through the upper surface of the disk, and into their outer ends are screwed stuffiug-boxes for the passage of the separate wires, said stuffingboxes being identical in construction with that described and shown in the before-referred-to Letters Patent.

Upon the upper surface of the worm-wheel F are supported the wire-delivery reels 0 between suitable standards 0 Two reels only are shown in the present instance, but as many may be used as desired, according to the number of wires the cable is to contain.

In the operation of the apparatus the wires are passed down through the stuffing-boxes at the top and through the hollow mandrel to its lower end, where they are secured in a suitable templct, the further operation in its forming and cooling the cable is similar to that of the machine shown and described in the Pattent No. 244,120, heretofore referred to, with the exception that while in said other machine the wires are introduced straight into the pipe, and the entire cable, including the pipe, is twisted after its formation, in the present invention a slow rotary motion is given to the wheel F by means of the worm F, while the cable is being formed, so that by the rotation of the mandrel and the templet at its top the wires are given a spiral form as they are introduced into the cable as it passes from the pipe-press, the lower portions of the wires being held by the insulating material after it is cooled and previously by the templet, in order that the upper portions may be twisted or given a spiral form. The molten insulating material, in flowing upward through the bores of the mandrels K and the lateral passages, enters the annular chamber between the grooved periphery of the disk H and the annular wall of the recess in which it plays, and thence through the radial passages in said disk to the bore of the mandrel, so that the flow of the insulating material is not at all interrupted by the rotation of said mandrel.

The advantage of the cable formed by this apparatus is that, while the wires are given the spiral form to obviate induction and enable the cable to be reeled without damage, the fibrous structure of the lead pipe is not interfered with by the pipe being twisted. It is therefore stronger, a little more flexible, and capable of enduring a greater strain than cables which are twisted as a whole.

Having now described my improvement,what I claim is 1. In amachinefor the manufacture of electric cables, the combination, with a pipe-press, of

devices for introducing wires into a pipe and giving them a spiral form simultaneously with the formation of the pipe by the press, substantially as described.

2. In a machine for the manufacture of elec tric cables, the combination, with a pipe-press and devices for introducing a molten insulating material into a pipe simultaneously with its formation by said press, of the devices for also introducing wires into said pipes and giving them a spiral form simultaneously with the formation of said pipe, substantially as described.

3. A pipe-press having a hollow plunger and a tubular mandrel arranged to rotate within said plunger, in combination with the devices for introducing the wires into said mandrel, Substantially as described, and for the purpose set forth.

4. The combination, with the plunger and lead-holder of the pipe-press and the hollow plungers K, and the melting-vessels, of the hollow mandrel, having the grooved disk H fitting in the recessin thehead-piecc, said recess being connected with the bores of said plungers K, substantially as described, and for the purpose set forth.

5. The combination, with thelead-holder and plunger of the pipe-press and the plungers K and melting-vessels, ot'the rotary mandrel, having the grooved disk H arranged in the recess of the head-piece, said recess being connected with the plungers of said melting-vessels, the horizontal wheel having its hub secured to the upper end of said mandrel, and provided with a templet for guiding wires into the same,and the wire-delivery reels mounted upon said wheel, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have affixed my signature in presence of two witnesses.

EDWARD J. FROST.

Vitnesses:

S. R. ALEBEHN,

WALTER E. BRAND. 

